BHUBANESWAR: The annual Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings scheduled on July 12 will be held without participation of devotees this year too due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Like last year, Rath Yatra will be held at Sri Jagannath Temple at Puri only as the state government prohibited it in any other temple of the State.
Announcing the decision on Thursday, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said that the Supreme Court’s guidelines on conducting the annual festival of Lord Jagannath will be followed. Restrictions imposed during the last year’s Rath Yatra will remain in force this year, he said, adding only sevayats having RT-PCR negative report within 48 hours and those who are fully vaccinated will take part in the proceedings including observance of all rituals.
Pulling of chariots will also be done by fully vaccinated or RT-PCR negative report holding sevayats by observing all Covid-19 protocols, he said, adding, not more than 500 sevayats can participate in pulling of a chariot. He said that the sevayats will also have to adhere to Covid appropriate behaviour as far as possible during such rituals as Pahandi of the deities.
The SRC said that during the Rath Yatra curfew will be clamped in Puri and all entry points to the town will be sealed. He said that live telecast feed of the festival will be provided to media outlets by the Information and Public Relations department.
He said that other temples in the state can only observe the rituals in the temple premises without any celebrations.
The Supreme Court had on June 22 last year modified its June 18 order staying the Rath Yatra and permitted the car festival to be held with certain conditions that included no public participation and imposition of curfew in the city due to the Covid-19 pandemic.